


picking up the pieces

by fzywood



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Fluff, Fluffy Ending, M/M, wrote this at like 2am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 06:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7924126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fzywood/pseuds/fzywood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The person who you love and loves you back is a person who should look at you as if you’re the world to them."</p>
            </blockquote>





	picking up the pieces

Since a young age, Ryan had believed that love wasn’t true. If there was love then why had his father cheated on his mother then claim to be innocent even after they had separated? If he truly loved his mom then he wouldn’t have claimed to be innocent to all of his friends and family, pleading that his wife was the crazy one, the one who had affairs behind his back. He would take the blame and realize his mistakes if he truly loved his now ex-wife. He would’ve kept them as a happy family if he truly loved not just his wife, but his son.

\--

“Thanks for tuning into the stream and I’ll see you all sometime soon.” Ryan said his goodbyes to certain users as they passed through the chat with their goodbyes at a fast pace.

He turned off his equipment and made one last time if he ended the stream, which he did. He shut off his computer then leaned back in his chair, staring up at his apartment ceiling, letting a soft smile form on his lips. Everything was good. His channel was growing, almost reaching a million subs, he had great friends, a cute dog, and no partner. He didn’t want love now or anytime soon.

His phone dinged, catching his attention before he could get too deep into his thoughts. He reached for it, seeing that his friend, Jonathan or mostly known as H2O Delirious, had messaged him.

**Jonathan: Hey, if you’re available, wanna play with Luke, our friend Bryce, and I?**

**Ryan: Sure dude, let me turn on my computer again XD I’m not gonna record though, what about you?**

**Jonathan: Nah, we’re just playing a golf game with each other so…**

**Ryan: Oh yes, because golfing with friends is soo boring**

**Jonathan: It is tbh! Unless we can make it fun**

**Ryan: Me being there will make it fun ;))**

**Jonathan: I regret inviting you ;)))**

**Ryan: Too late mother fucker no taksies backsies**

**Jonathan: Yeah yeah, just get the fuck on Skype…**

Ryan let out a quiet laugh and placed his food down, checking if his computer had started up, which it did. He clicked on the skype app then got up, heading to the kitchen to check if his dog, Buddy, had food and water. After checking, Ryan heard his dog jump off the couch and begin to go where his owner had went, making him smile even more. He turned and faced his dog then bent down as Buddy approached him. He opened his arms and brought them close, picking up Buddy in one swift motion.

“Who’s a good boy?” Ryan asked in a higher pitched voice than usual as he began to laugh, getting much joy from just holding his dog.

He placed Buddy down as he heard the skype call sound start to go off. He told Buddy to be a good boy and he would play with him later as he made his way back to his computer, clicking on the answer button. He sat down and got his things ready as people began to talk.

“And that’s why North Carolina su- Oh hey Ohm!” Jonathan yelled, making Ryan jump from the sudden loudness.

“H-Hey Del, Cartoonz, and whoever the new guy is.”

“It’s Bryce.” A charming voice said and Ryan felt a chill run down his spine at how serious and confident the voice sounded. This guy was so unlike the other two.

“Nice to meet ya Bryce, I’m Ohm.”

“I've heard.” Bryce said with a laugh and Ryan chuckled lightly at the sound of this guy’s (kinda cute) laugh.

“Anyways, let's get started. I’m ready to beat all of your asses at golf!” Cartoonz yelled, interrupting the moment.

“As if I’d let that happen.” Ohm joked and checked the link Del sent in the group chat.

\--

“BRYCE YOU ASSHOLE!” Delirious yelled as Bryce knocked his golf ball away from the hole, making him have to take more strokes, making Bryce laugh even more.

“Shouldn’t have been there.” Bryce said as he scored, earning 5 strokes. He was currently in the lead with 38 points, Ohm behind him with 41, Cartoonz in third with 47, then Delirious last wtih 56.

“How the fuck is Bryce so good?” Cartoonz complained, earning more laughter from Bryce.

“Maybe he talked to the golf gods before this, giving up his virginity just to win a single golf game.” Ohm joked, receiving laughter from everyone.

“Yeahh. Because it’s totally worth winning _only_ one golf game.”

“Are you saying that it's worth more?”

“Maybe.”

“Then maybe you’ll just have to sh-”

“No flirting while Cartoonz and I are here.” Delirious said through laughter, earning two strokes on the hole, catching up to Cartoonz by a stroke.

“We weren’t flirting, even then, Ohm is too.. Ohm for me.”

“I’m quite insulted Bryce, I thought I was appealing.”

“Maybe in another universe.” Bryce joked and everyone began to laugh, including Ohm.

Though he didn’t believe in love, he still didn’t mind joke flirting. He didn’t mind acting like love was there between himself and some other person as long as they didn’t get close and actually develop feelings. He had accidentally led people on in the past and now he never talked to them, much to his dismay. He liked having friends because they would always stay just as friends. He liked a lot of things, but the only thing he would say he loved, and truly did, was Buddy. He loved his dog more than anything because he knew Buddy wouldn’t betray him, but would stay by his side and always be there.

“Ohm, hurry the fuck up!” Cartoonz yelled and shook Ryan out of his thoughts, making him realize he only had 52 seconds left on the timer to get the ball in the hole.

“S-Sorry guys.” He apologized with a light laugh and began to go, scoring 4 strokes with only 34 seconds left.

“It’s okay, but maybe Cartoonz shouldn’t have brought you back from thinking.”

“Wha- Why?”

“Because you would be last mother fucker!!” Delirious yelled as he took his first stroke to the hole, actually landing close to it.

“WHAT THE-”

“HOW?!?”

“DELIRIOUS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!”

Delirious erupted with laughter, his signature crazy laugh that everyone loved coming through his mic, making the others start grinning or even letting out little laughs of their own. The others tried to replicate what Delirious did but somehow couldn’t.

“As the trick shot king, I’ll get you back later.” Bryce said as he knocked his ball in the hole, earning 6 strokes, most of them being failed attempts of trying the trick shot.

Ryan had gotten a 5, closing the distance between him and Bryce just a bit. As much as Ryan would try hard, it wasn’t much compared to how much Bryce would try hard. After all, the distance was still a big amount, even if it was a pretty small amount. Every time Ryan did good, Bryce did good.

Holes passed and soon they were on the last one, the distance between had changed and Ohm was now in the lead, in front of Bryce by 2. He just needed to do well on this hole and he would be fine..

Cartoonz and Delirious went, both hollering to cover their worrying. Bryce and Ohm stayed still near the beginning.

“I insist you go first.” Bryce said kindly and Ryan shook his head in real life.

“No, I insist. Ladies should go first after all.” Ryan teased and Bryce sighed with a laugh.

After a bit more teasing and the timer slowly counting down, the two went and ended up right next to each other.

“May the best man win.” Ryan grinned and shot his ball, ending up in the small square that contained the hole, Bryce following right after him.

He quickly scored before Bryce could fuck him over, Bryce following his action.

In the end, Ryan had won and Bryce was second. Cartoonz ended up third while Delirious resided in last, quietly complaining about it which made the other three laugh.

“Anyways, I got shit to do so I’ll talk to you all later.” Luke said and wished everyone goodbye before hanging up his side of the call.

“Same here, you two have fun flirting now.” Delirious teased with a laugh after, probably winking at them even though none of them could see him.

Delirious hung up which ended the whole call. Ryan moved his mouse to Bryce’s profile, sending a friend request, which was accepted immediately. Ryan was hesitant to click the call button but pushed himself to do it. The call was answered immediately and Ryan let out a quiet sigh of relief, nervous but excited to make friends with Bryce.

“Hey.” Ryan said with fake confidence.

“Hey back to you.” Bryce replied and the two of them laughed at the lame phrase.

“So, how’s your day been?”

“Pretty good, I’ve only done one thing and that was play golf with friends, no pun intended. But what about yours?”

“Also pretty fun, played golf with my friends and chilled with my dog-”

“You have a dog?!” Bryce asked excitedly and Ryan chuckled.

“Yep, a Jack Russell Terrier named Buddy.”

“That sounds so cute.” Bryce let out a squeal as Ryan sent a picture he had taken a few days before.

“I need to meet him.” Bryce let out quietly and Ryan grinned.

“If you’re ever in Chicago hit me up.”

“Same back to you about Georgia.”

The two continued to talk for hours, enjoying the other a lot. Ryan had even turned on his camera but had tilted it down so Bryce couldn’t see his face. He had shown Buddy, making Bryce fanboy quietly because apparently dogs were one of his weaknesses. They got to know each other and Ryan’s smile throughout the whole call didn’t falter once.

“Anyways, I should be going. It’s late as hell here now and I need my beauty sleep.”

“Ahh, goodnight Bryce. It was awesome talking to you!”

“Same to you. If you’re available, want to skype tomorrow?”

“Sure, and I should be available.”

“Well I’ll message you tomorrow. Goodnight Ohm.”

“Goodnight Bryce.”

The call ended and Ryan stared at the screen for a few minutes, missing Bryce already. Even if they had only known each other for not even a day, Ryan already enjoyed Bryce more than most of his friends. He just had such a charming personality and friendly smile that drew you in, wanting to interact with him as much as possible. He was a great guy and as much as Ryan kept it locked away at that moment, he wanted more of Bryce.

He wanted to hear more of his angelic laugh that he would hear when he cracked a stupid joke or said some witty line. He wanted to hear more of Bryce saying his name, whether it be in anger or joy. He wanted to talk to him for hours again and learn more and more about Bryce. He wante- Wait, why did he want so much from a guy he had just met?

\--

“-It was my brother who got in trouble for it though. I was scot free.” Bryce snickered, looking towards the side then back at his computer.

At the beginning of their call, Bryce turned on his camera, which had confused Ryan a good amount. If Bryce was expecting a face reveal from Ryan then that wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

“It must be the best being the angel child, hm?”

“You know it. Do you have any siblings?”

Ryan gulped at the memory of his family, his mom and dad. In his teenage years, due to some major issues with his parents, he had moved out himself. His parents didn’t notice and rarely contacted, even then it was his mother who contacted. She would send holiday cards with short, hand written messages wishing him a happy holiday and hoping that he was doing well. His father on the other hand completely hated him, acting as if Ryan didn’t exist ever since then-

“Ohm?” Bryce asked timidly and Ryan came back from thinking.

“Oh right, uh, I have two half sisters and that’s it.”

“Oh that’s cool, have any funny stories with them?”

Ryan bit his tongue from saying that he had _never even_ _met them_.

“Nah, they always did too much girly stuff for me. Dolls don’t usually lead to funny stories.”

“Dang, and I was hoping for a good Ohm story.”

“I can tell you about other things if you’d like.”

“Sounds perfect.”

\--

Months had passed of them skyping and playing together, usually including Cartoonz and Delirious. But the two would usually leave soon after finishing their game, leaving Bryce and Ohm alone to talk to themselves. After months of talking and getting close, Ryan had decided to turn on his camera one time so Bryce wasn’t talking to a boring screen anymore. The reaction was priceless of when this sudden guy came on the screen, confusing Bryce before he realized what was happening.

Months had passed of Ryan denying any feelings of Bryce, denying the fact that every time Bryce smiled he wanted to keep it there forever with all of his power. He denied the fact that he wanted to kiss some part of Bryce’s face every time the boy laughed his angelic laugh, making Ryan’s heart flutter and cheeks warm up. He denied the fact that he wanted to touch their noses and count how many freckles Bryce had and then try to connect them like constellations.

He always denied that this was the feeling of love because  _ it didn’t exist _ .

If love was so cruel throughout his whole life then why did it suddenly want to be good? Why did this feeling that could hurt someone so much make Ryan feel the opposite about Bryce?

\--

“Hey, you okay?” Bryce asked one day during their call, noticing that Ryan had been spacing out a lot lately during their calls.

Ryan was hesitant, biting his lip and wondering if he should fake an answer of him being fine or being truthful. If he went with the first decision, there was a good chance Bryce would see right through him and push the matter of talking once, not wanting to make Ryan uncomfortable. So the latter was a lot quicker, making it the right decision.

“Not really..”

“Want to talk?”

“Sure. So, I-I’ve been feeling something for a person lately. For a while I was denying those feelings because..” Ryan trailed off and smiled weakly at how fragile his voice sounded.

“Because?”

“I’m scared. For what feels like forever, I’ve hated love. I’ve hated the concept and the feeling. I mean, if people say they love each other, why do they then go behind each others backs and hurt the other? I’m scared to love because I don’t want to hurt the person and I just- I’m scared of love.”

Bryce was silent and Ryan thought that he had fucked up. Bryce was never silent. He was a person who usually had a say on almost any matter, making him a great person to always talk to from afternoon until midnight. If he had fucked up just because of being honest about love then what was Bryce thinking? That he was a freak or someth-

“I.. I don’t think you’re scared of love itself. I-I think that you might have never been loved or someone who did had poisoned you with it. Either way it was ruined for you. Love is a great feeling honestly. It always makes me giddy and smile because I just want to make that person happy and just keep them close. Love is a beautiful thing if you use it correctly that is..” Bryce trailed off fro his ramble, looking away in embarrassment as his body began to heat up from his awkward confession for that feeling.

“Maybe.. I don’t know though. What if the person takes advantage of it somehow?”

“Then they’re not the right person.”

“What do you mean?”

“The person who you love and loves you back is a person who should look at you as if you’re the world to them. They should make you want to smile every moment and will stick by your side even in the darkest of times. I-I believe that at least. Love is something weird but amazing in all honesty and I don’t want you to think of it as something bad.”

“Bryce-”

“S-Sorry, I’m just going to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, goodnight Ry- I mean Ohm. Sleep tight.” Bryce rushed out quickly before hanging up the call, leaving a confused Ryan to stare at his screen for a few more moments, trying to process what had happened.

Overall he concluded that he had fallen for Bryce more than he thought.

\--

“Delirious.” Ryan said seriously during a one on one skype call with Delirious.

That day, Bryce had claimed that he was busy with something but Delirious offered to call because he had nothing to do for a while and since Cartoonz was busy once again, it was a perfect time for them to bond again.

“Hm?” Delirious asked curiously as he roamed twitter, liking and retweeting fan art here and there.

“Have you ever loved someone?”

Now this caught Delirious’ attention. He shut off his phone and placed it on his desk, sitting up straight.

“In what way?”

“Wait there’s different ways?”

“Well sort of. There’s romantic, platonic, etc. Like how you love your family is different than a romantic partner. And the way you love an animal is different than family. You’re going to love your romantic partner or partners, depending if you’re into that or not, the most passionately. How come you ask?”

“Because I don’t know what type of love this is.”

“Well- Uh, how do you feel about them?”

“Well they tick me off but then when I hear their laugh, everything feels better. And whenever they smile, I want to smile? I just- I don’t want to say this Del..”

“You’re going to have to if you want me to help.” Delirious said seriously and was surprised to finally hear the weak and shaky voice replacing the usually confident one.

“F-Fine.. I want to just be with them every moment and never let anything harm them, especially myself. I want to just- I want to make them the happiest thing in this world and I don’t want to see them, as if they were a light, dim. If they were to falter at all, I would do whatever I could to help them-”

“Yep you romantically love this person.”

“Fuck.” Ryan cursed loudly and Delirious chuckled.

“So who is it? Or am I not allowed to know?”

“I-It’s.. Bryce..” Ryan said slowly and Del grinned at the exciting news.

“Talk to him, trust me.”

“But what if he doesn’t like me the same way back?”

“Tell him what you told me. Trust me. Now I gotta attend to some important business. Contact Bryce when you can and tell me how it goes! Now see ya later!” Delirious rushed, not giving Ohm a chance to say anything, and ended the call, waiting until it confirmed the call was over before hollering and quickly pulling his phone close, texting Cartoonz the good news.

\--

“Hey!” Bryce answered the call from Ryan, hoping that stuff wouldn’t be too awkward between them considering how he ended their last call which had happened a few days ago.

“Hey..” Ryan said nervously, deciding to not turn on his facecam just in case he had begun to possibly cry if he was denied or something worse.

“Is someth-”

“I’m just going to ramble and then you can say whatever you think, okay? So, I think you should know that these past months have been great. I’ve loved getting to know you better, knowing what makes Bryce Mcquaid himself. I feel like this should be more cliche but you can only do so much with a computer and an idiot who has no idea about what love means. So, after much discussion with different people and thinking about it a lot.. I’m head over heels for you Bryce. I am falling for you and I- I’m happy it was you.”

Bryce stayed silent as he covered his mouth with his hands, a wide smile taking over his previous concerned expression. He felt his heart flutter and body begin to heat up, mind racing as he tried to think of the right words. There really were only a select few that were perfect in Bryce’s opinion.

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you all for reading this one shot! it was written at like, 2am and me running off of cherry pepsi. i just hope i described the emotions well enough. if you have any suggestions or anything please comment them because i s u c k at describing emotions tbh. 
> 
> also thank you to my lovely friend & beta monochrometurtle for reading over it and encouraging me to actually finish a one shot for once xD you are the real MVP dude.
> 
> anyways thanks again for reading and i hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
